Hot Start, Cold Finish: K-State Drops Series to TCU

K-State got off to a hot start with an exciting 13–12 walk-off win Friday evening against TCU. Everyone in the Wildcats’ starting lineup registered a hit, with AJ Evasco, Carlos Vasquez, and Shintaro Inoue each recording multi-hit games. TCU was scoring almost every inning until Adam Arther and Miles Smith came in to hold the Horned Frogs scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings. Smith was especially dominant, going 1.2 innings and facing just four batters. None other than Dee Kennedy then stepped up in the bottom of the ninth to deliver the game-winning sacrifice fly, bringing in Ty Smolinski for the win.

Game two started off hot as well, with the Cats plating three runs in the first inning and holding a 3–1 lead through four. Sadly, those three runs would be the last scored by K-State all weekend, as TCU took game two by a final score of 9–3. The Horned Frogs then went on to shut out K-State 4–0 in game three, behind an outstanding start by Zack James, who went eight innings, allowed just five hits, and struck out five.

Seventeen scoreless innings at home is a big disappointment. In game two, K-State gave up too much, with TCU scoring nine runs on 12 hits. The pitching staff wasn’t too bad in game three, but the offense was non-existent.

It has very much been an up-and-down season for K-State, which drops to 5–7 in conference play—good for a four-way tie for eighth place in the Big 12. K-State still has to face Oklahoma State, Kansas, West Virginia, and UCF in conference play, and all of those teams currently sit above them in the standings. Arizona and Cincinnati appear to be winnable series, but the same was thought about Utah. Multiple tough non-conference games are still to come, including a matchup tomorrow at Wichita State and a road trip to Nebraska.

I’m hopeful the Bat Cats will figure it out and make the postseason, but that early-season goal of hosting a regional is looking gloomy as we get deeper into conference play. Still, I’m all for being proven wrong—and hope that I am.